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Yusuke Nakano
Yusuke Nakano is a long-time illustrator at Nintendo, mostly known for his work in the art of The Legend of Zelda series. He creates the artwork for many Nintendo published video games, or at least helps supervise the creation of art. According to him, before he creates artwork for a particular character or item, he'll sit down with the game's developers to help him determine what exactly to create. Because of the shifts in character design, it's a challenge for him to complete a concrete piece of artwork. He has been considered one of Nintendo's primary artists. Biography In the beginning, Nakano was, like many illustrators at Nintendo, a fan of comic books. He was particularly fond of American comics and appreciated the work done by Richard Corben and Frank Frazetta. In school, he was concerned that he wouldn't be able to get a job as an artist. At the same time he didn't view video games as anything special. After playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and the ''Fire Emblem'' series, he began to really have a love for the medium. He noticed that the art used in these games were not only the art that he loves, though the kind that he specializes in as well, which urged him to get a job at Nintendo. He started work on video game illustration in Nintendo R&D1 with Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 as the packaging designer along with Fujiko Nomura. He later went on to work on Super Metroid's printed artwork and various Virtual Boy video games. Later on, he moved to Nintendo EAD, where he worked on various Nintendo 64 video games, which include the likes of Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64; in those titles, he would create CG artwork, though also for games such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which features traditional hand drawn images. He got the Ocarina of Time job after hearing about the game and creating a couple concepts for the game's directors. They loved the drawings he made, and chose him to draw the artwork for Link and various others. His favorite to draw was Impa, though he also like to draw Ganondorf as well. Following Ocarina of Time, he worked on various other Zelda titles as well, including Majora's Mask, The Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess. In Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, he designed the characters on behalf of the development team at Capcom. He has also designed various pieces of art for games such as Wave Race: Blue Storm and even Animal Crossing. According to Nakano, the first game in which he worked on a game during its earliest stages was with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii and GameCube, where he was the main character designer. Not only did he help create the artwork, though he also gave examples to the team on how they could express Link, Zelda, and many of the game's monsters via sketches he drew. After art director Satoru Takizawa and him came up with an idea, Shigeru Miyamoto and game director Eiji Aonuma would give their input, until they eventually came up with the final design. Curently, Nakano's work consists mostly on illustration management, although he has sometimes drawn illustrations by himself on some of the most recent Zelda titles. Nakano also designed the banner artwork for ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', featuring all of the fighters in the title. Inspirations *Yusuke Nakano has explained that during the time of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, he was deeply into the comic book Hellboy, saying that it probably helped shape the game in one way or another. Game Works *''Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3'' (1994) - Package Designer *''Super Metroid'' (1994) - Printed Artwork *''Galactic Pinball'' (1995) - Artwork *''Virtual Boy Wario Land'' (1995) - Printed Artwork *''Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War'' (1996) - Artwork *''Wave Race 64'' (1996) - Package Design *''The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time'' (1998) - Character Illustration *''Mario Golf (Nintendo 64) (1999) - Package Design *[[Mario Golf (Game Boy Color)|''Mario Golf (Game Boy Color)]] (1999) - Graphic Support *''Perfect Dark'' (2000) - NCL Staff *''Mario Tennis'' (Nintendo 64) (2000) - CG Design & Package Design *''Mario Party 3'' (2000) - Package Illustrator *''Pokémon Stadium 2'' (2000) - Artwork *''The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons'' (2001) - Character Design *''The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages'' (2001) - Character Design *''Wave Race: Blue Storm'' (2001) - Character Illustration, Package Design (Japanese Version) *''Soulcalibur II'' (2003) - Nintendo Staff *''Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour'' (2003) - CG Illustrator *''The Legend of Zelda: Navi Trackers'' (2004) - Illustrator *''Mario Golf: Advance Tour'' (2004) - CG Illustration *''Donkey Kong Jungle Beat'' (2004) - Artwork (Japanese Version) *''Nintendogs'' (2005) - Artwork Advisor *''Super Mario Strikers'' (2005) - In-game Graphic Supervisor *''Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time'' (2005) - Illustration Supervisor *''Mario Hoops 3-on-3'' (2006) - Illustration Supervisor *''Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis'' (2006) - Illustration Supervisor *''Yoshi's Island DS'' (2006) - Illustration Supervisor *''The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess'' (2006) - Main Character Design / Illustration *''WarioWare: Smooth Moves'' (2006) - Illustration Supervisor *''Practise English'' (2007) - Character Design *''Super Paper Mario'' (2007) - Artwork *''Mario Strikers Charged'' (2007) - Illustration Supervisor *''Mario Party 8'' (2007) - CG Illustration Supervisor *''Itadaki Street DS'' (2007) - Illustration Supervisor *''Donkey Kong Barrel Blast'' (2007) - CG Illustration Supervisor *''DK: Jungle Climber'' (2007) - CG Illustration Supervisor *''Super Mario Galaxy'' (2007) - Illustration Supervisor *''Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games'' (2007) - Illustration Supervisor *''Mario Party DS'' (2007) - CG Illustration Supervisor *''Link's Crossbow Training'' (2007) - Illustration *''Kousoku Card Battle: Card Hero'' (2007) - Illustration *''Mario Kart Wii'' (2008) - CG Illustration Supervisor *''Mario Super Sluggers'' (2008) - CG Illustration Supervisor *[[Wario Land: Shake It!|''Wario Land: Shake It!]] (2008) - Illustration *[[Captain Rainbow|''Captain Rainbow]] (2008) - Supervisor (Character Models) *''Style Savvy'' (2008) - Illustration Supervisor *[[WarioWare: Snapped!|''WarioWare: Snapped!]] (2008) - Illustration Supervisor *Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story'' (2009) - Illustration Supervisor *[[WarioWare D.I.Y.|''WarioWare D.I.Y.]] (2009) - Illustration Supervisor *Punch-Out!! (Wii) (2009) - Graphic Supervisor *[[Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games|''Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games]] (2009) - Illustration Supervisor *''Samurai Warriors 3'' (2009) - Murasame Castle Mode: Graphic Supervisor *''The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks'' (2009) - Illustration Supervisor *''Zangeki no Reginleiv'' (2010) - Artwork *''Super Mario Galaxy 2'' (2010) - Illustration *[[Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!|''Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!]] (2010) - Illustration Supervisor *[[Donkey Kong Country Returns|''Donkey Kong Country Returns]] (2010) - Character Supervisor *''Mario Sports Mix'' (2010) - Illustration Supervisor *''The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D'''' (2011) ''- Illustration *''Super Mario 3D Land'' (2011) - Illustration Supervisor *''Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games'' (Wii) (2011) - Illustration Supervisor *''The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword'' (2011)'' ''- Illustration *''Mario Kart 7'' (2011) - Illustration Supervisor *''Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games'' (3DS) (2012) - Graphic Supervisor *''Mario Tennis Open'' (2012) - Artwork *''Style Savvy: Trendsetters'' (2012) - Illustration *''Paper Mario: Sticker Star'' (2012) - Illustration Supervisor *''Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon'' (2013) - Illustration Supervisor *''Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move'' (2013) - Illustration Supervisor *''Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games'' (2013) - Illustration Supervisor *''The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds'' (2013) - Illustration *''Dr. Luigi'' (2013) - Character Supervision *''Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze'' (2014) - Illustration Supervisor *''Mario Kart 8'' (2014) - Illustration Supervisor *''Pikmin Short Movies'' (2014) - Character Supervision *''The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D'' (2015) - Illustration *''Mario Party 10'' (2015) - Illustration Supervisor *''Yoshi's Woolly World'' (2015) - Illustration Supervisor *''The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes'' (2015) - Illustration *''Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash'' (2015) - Illustration Supervisor *''Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games'' (2016) - Illustration Supervisor *''The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD'' (2016) - Stamp Design *''Metroid Prime: Federation Force'' (2016) - Illustration Supervisor *''Paper Mario: Color Splash'' (2016) - Illustration Supervisor *''Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World'' (2017) - Illustration Supervisor *''The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'' (2017) - Ganon Battle Illustration *[[Snipperclips - Cut it out, together!|''Snipperclips - Cut it out, together!]] (2017) - Art Adviser *[[Mario Sports Superstars|''Mario Sports Superstars]] (2017) - Illustration Supervisor *''Mario Kart 8 Deluxe'' (2017) - Illustration Supervisor *''Ever Oasis'' (2017) - Artwork *''Mario Party: The Top 100'' (2017) - Illustration *''Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers'' (2018) - Artwork *''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'''' (2018) - Illustration *[[The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch)|''The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch)]] (2019) - Illustration Special Thanks * Teleroboxer (1995) * ''Mario Kart 64'' (1996) * ''Pocket Monsters Stadium'' (1998) * Pokémon Stadium (1999) * Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001) - Original Game Staff (Character Illustration: The Legend of Zelda) * The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (2004) * ''Mario Kart Arcade GP'' (2005) * ''Mario Kart Arcade GP 2'' (2007) * Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008) - Supervisor (Original Games) * ''Minna no Joushiki Ryoku TV'' (2008) * ''New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat'' (2008) * ''Xenoblade Chronicles'' (2010) * ''Golden Sun: Dark Dawn'' (2010) * ''The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition'' (2011) * ''New Super Mario Bros. 2'' (2012) * ''New Super Mario Bros. U'' (2012) * ''Nintendo Land'' (2012) * ''New Super Luigi U'' (2013) * ''Pikmin 3'' (2013) * ''Mario Kart Arcade GP DX'' (2013) * ''Super Mario 3D World'' (2013) * ''Hyrule Warriors'' (2014) * ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U'' (2014) - Supervisor (Original Games) * Bayonetta 2 (2014) * ''Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker'' (2014) * ''Super Mario Maker'' (2015) * ''Skylanders: Superchargers'' (2015) * ''Hyrule Warriors Legends'' (2016) * ''Star Fox Zero'' (2016) * ''Star Fox Guard'' (2016) * ''ARMS'' (2017) Interviews * N.O.M.: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons / Ages * Nintendo Power: Inside Zelda: Twilight Princess (archived) * The Art of Legend of Zelda Series Masterclass * Nintendo Dream: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Category:Illustrators Category:Supervisors Category:Character designers Category:Video game designers Category:Nintendo people Category:Nintendo Graphic Designers Category:Real people